Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories
It’s a theme that runs through our collective take on Canada’s great and not so great. McCall and Clarkson on Trudeau: “He haunts us still.” Newman on Mulroney: “He bugs us still.” And what might the noted historian Conrad Black say of David Radler? How about: “He (select any or all of the following) irks, betrays, bemuses, gammons, hornswoggles, bamboozles us still”?
Reports this morning have it that the prosecution has submitted paperwork to Judge Amy St. Eve asking her to ratify the plea agreement that will put Radler in a seaside Canadian hoosegow for as little as six months. It was only ten or so days ago that Black, in his spleen-venting interview with Bloomberg Radio, fell just short of calling Radler a thug, and now he’s having to watch as “the rat” consummates with little or no impediment his sweetheart deal with the U.S. government. From Black’s perspective it’s a monstrous irony. Radler betrays Black, then screws up his testimony so badly that this morning’s Editor & Publisher characterized it as “uncertain, forgetful, defensive, and even evasive.” And still Radler evades serious punishment, while Black stares down the barrel of at least ten years. For Black it’s a classic lose-lose situation. And for Radler? If not exactly win-win, pretty damn close.
Feds Ask Judge To OK Radler Plea Bargain As Conrad Black Seeks Sentencing Delay [Editor & Publisher]
Judge asked to approve plea bargain for Radler [Globe and Mail]
